


drink that sun

by HyperchaoticStarlight (MVPYurio)



Series: i'll be around for you [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, M/M, Picnics, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Scienceshipping, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 06:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15551799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MVPYurio/pseuds/HyperchaoticStarlight
Summary: “Let’s go on a picnic.”Tony suggests he and Bruce have some fun. Bruce thinks about his feelings.





	drink that sun

**Author's Note:**

> I took inspiration from ["Get Out the Map"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaSof4CcyfU) by Indigo Girls when writing this one. –Lia

“Let’s go on a picnic.”

Bruce looked up to see that Tony had both hands on his desk and was leaning on them.

“C’mon,” Tony urged. “We’ve both been working our asses off recently. There’s a bike trail near here; we can walk or bike down it, and there’s this pond where we can go swimming if we want.”

“Oh, I’m not saying no,” said Bruce. “It sounds fun.”

“D’you wanna bike over there?” Tony asked.

“God, I haven’t been on a bike in forever,” said Bruce. “I wonder if I still know how to ride one.”

“Well, you can try,” said Tony. “I have a couple extra, and some extra bathing suits. We can pack a lunch, hang out…”

“It sounds amazing,” said Bruce. “I’m gonna finish up what I’m doing and then we can get ready to go, okay?”

“Oh, you wanna go now?” Tony asked.

“Is that a problem?” Bruce asked.

Tony shook his head vigorously. “No, it sounds great! Let’s do it.”

~~~~

Bruce had forgotten how much he enjoyed biking.

The entire experience was exhilarating—the rush of cool air against his skin, the rapid clicking and ticking of the bike chain on the gears, the rubber ridges of the handlebars pressing against his hands as he steered. He felt alive, free, as though he could drink the sun itself.

“Nice, isn’t it?”

Tony had just pulled up next to his left and was smiling brightly at him. “Clears your head.”

“It really does,” Bruce agreed.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” said Tony. “I think you’ll really like it.”

“Sounds good,” said Bruce.

Bruce had never expected himself to be much of a picnicker. Sitting outside on a blanket and eating… he understood the appeal, but it didn’t appeal all that much to him.

And yet, when Tony suggested they go on a picnic together, Bruce had said yes without a second thought. For some reason, _everything_ sounded more appealing when Tony was involved.

It made sense, of course; they were friends and all, but sometimes Bruce felt it even more strongly than he thought normal friends felt. Sometimes, he thought he might follow Tony to the ends of the earth.

Nat had flatly informed him that he was in love, multiple times. Sometimes, he wondered whether she might be right, whether that _pull_ he always felt when he was around Tony—and he did feel that pull, constantly; he had since they first _met_ for crying out loud—was… love.

“You alright?” Tony asked from next to him. “I know you like to space out, but you can’t while riding a bike, okay?”

Bruce laughed. “Yeah. Can’t have me crashing into a tree.”

And there it was—that pull, tugging on him like a child on their parent’s—no, no. Like a dog on a leash, running after a squirrel and bringing some poor human on the other end along.

He laughed, internally, at the thought of Tony as a squirrel being chased. Didn’t quite sound like him, and the idea of him chasing—now _that_ was… something.

And yet, the metaphor stuck in that way that only apt metaphors stick.

“Bruce, you’re about thirty seconds away from biking into a pond,” Tony warned. “Twenty-nine, twenty-eight—”

“Thanks,” said Bruce as he hopped off of his bike. “Sorry, I—”

“It’s fine,” Tony said casually, and thank god for that; Bruce had no idea how to finish that last sentence. “So, here we are.”

Bruce looked around and couldn’t help but smile. He’d never seen a pond that crystal-clear in his life.

“Almost looks fake,” he said. “You didn’t—”

Tony shook his head. “I discovered this place by accident some time ago.”

“It’s beautiful,” Bruce said quietly. He knelt down and touched the surface of the pond with just one finger, swirling it across the water.

“Glad you like it,” said Tony. “So, you hungry?”

“Oh, fuck yes,” said Bruce, stepping away from the pond. He turned to see that Tony had already spread out the picnic blanket and was sitting on it, patting the space next to him.

“Come sit,” said Tony. “Plenty of space, plenty of food.”

He smiled, the kind of smile that brought constellations to his big dark eyes, and Bruce realized that the dog on the end of the leash, whether it was his heart or something else, was too big and too strong for him to resist.

So he walked forward, letting himself be tugged along, and sat down. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Tony nudged him, lightly, shoulder-to-shoulder. “Ready to eat?”

Bruce nudged him back, smiling softly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.”

They ate, and chucked food at each other—“no, we’re trying to catch food in our mouths,” Tony insisted—and then he declared the whole “wait thirty minutes before you swim” thing to be bullshit, changed into his swimsuit behind a tree, and ran into the pond.

“How’s the water?” Bruce asked.

“Come join me and find out,” Tony said invitingly, even stepping to the side and spreading his arms as if presenting a red carpet.

“You’re ridiculous,” said Bruce, and it was the kind of ridiculous that sent a tiny shockwave up the leash, urging him to go behind the same tree and change so he could follow Tony into the water like he followed Tony everywhere else.

_Get it together, Banner._

But how could he _get it together_ when he felt more _together_ right now, and over the last few months, than he had ever felt before?

Whatever. The water looked nice, and Tony, admittedly, looked nicer. Objectively. Scientifically speaking, he looked better without a shirt than he did—

“Yeah, okay,” Bruce muttered to himself as he changed behind the tree. Because really, since when was Nat ever wrong about _anything?_

He finished changing and stepped into the water, and oh _shit_ was the water nice, soft and cool against his skin, sweet and calm and serene—

“Hey!” Bruce whirled around and glared, only to be met with Tony grinning, hands raised and ready to careen down into the water to splash him again. “What was that for?”

“Hmm.” Tony pretended to consider, still _smirking_ like the fucking asshole he was. “Fun.”

“Oh?” Bruce asked, feigning innocence. “What, like this?” He slammed his hands down even harder than Tony had, causing water to rise and form a tower for just a moment before crashing down over Tony’s head.

“Yeah,” said Tony, and suddenly his smile turned sincere. “Yeah. Like that.”

“What?” Bruce asked.

“You’ve seemed off,” said Tony. “It’s just good to see you smiling.”

Bruce could feel his cheeks warming up, _damn it Banner, get it to—under control, get it under control,_ but he couldn’t stop it. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“So, whaddya say?” Tony asked, skating two fingers across the water. “Splash fight?”

“You’re a child,” Bruce declared, even as he nodded. “It’s on.”

“Will be as soon as you catch me,” said Tony, and he took off swimming across the pond.

“Hey!” Bruce protested, swimming after him.

Yeah, okay. He supposed he could concede to the dog.

**Author's Note:**

> This series is brought to you by Lia (she/her, HyperchaoticStarlight) and James (they/them, TheMagicMicrobus). We try to update about every 2 weeks. However, we are both students (Lia is in college; James is in high school), and so we cannot promise perfection.
> 
> Find Lia on Tumblr @ hyperchaoticstarlight, marvel-at-these-gays, scienceshipping, and tinytonys.  
> Find James on Tumblr @ themagicmicrobus and morethanhumantogether.
> 
> If you have ideas for this series, please feel free to reach out to one of us and we will consider putting it in!


End file.
